The only objects of practical reason are therefore those of good and evil. For by the former is meant an object necessarily desired according to a principle of reason; by the latter one necessarily shunned, also according to a principle of reason.

Compassion is the basis of morality.

Virtue is insufficient temptation.

We cannot conceive of matter being formed of nothing, since things require a seed to start from… Therefore there is not anything which returns to nothing, but all things return dissolved into their elements.

There is, indeed, nothing that so much seduces reason from vigilance, as the thought of passing life with an amiable woman.

Death is the wish of some, the relief of many, and the end of all.

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.

The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual’s own reason and critical analysis.

Since God created the world, He also created reality.

I am a part of everything that I have read.

Those who have virtue always in their mouths, and neglect it in practice, are like a harp, which emits a sound pleasing to others, while itself is insensible of the music.

Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.

The violence in the Bible is appalling.

The formula ‚Two and two make five‘ is not without its attractions.

Whatever must happen ultimately should happen immediately.

It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken.

I believe in the Golden Rule – The Man with the Gold… Rules.

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

The art of being a slave is to rule one’s master.

I argue thee that love is life. And life hath immortality.

I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn’t wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine.

Man’s unhappiness, as I construe, comes of his greatness; it is because there is an Infinite in him, which with all his cunning he cannot quite bury under the Finite.

Life is divided into the horrible and the miserable.

What is straight? A line can be straight, or a street, but the human heart, oh, no, it’s curved like a road through mountains.

There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed.

Yesterday’s weirdness is tomorrow’s reason why.

Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on.

The quality of moral behavior varies in inverse ratio to the number of human beings involved.

Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own.

There is no reason why good cannot triumph as often as evil. The triumph of anything is a matter of organization. If there are such things as angels, I hope that they are organized along the lines of the Mafia.

Never in any case say I have lost such a thing, but I have returned it. Is your child dead? It is a return. Is your wife dead? It is a return. Are you deprived of your estate? Is not this also a return?

The way of the Creative works through change and transformation, so that each thing receives its true nature and destiny and comes into permanent accord with the Great Harmony: this is what furthers and what perseveres.

As individuals, people are inherently good. I have a somewhat more pessimistic view of people in groups. And I remain extremely concerned when I see what’s happening in our country, which is in many ways the luckiest place in the world. We don’t seem to be excited about making our country a better place for our kids.

To the press alone, chequered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression.

Pessimist: One who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both.

Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind.

Heaven is dumb, echoing only the dumb.

I believe it is universally understood and acknowledged that all men will ever act correctly, unless they have a motive to do otherwise.

High moral character is not a precondition for great moral accomplishments.

Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.

One of the great attractions of patriotism – it fulfills our worst wishes. In the person of our nation we are able, vicariously, to bully and cheat. Bully and cheat, what’s more, with a feeling that we are profoundly virtuous.

Buddhism has in it no idea of there being a moral law laid down by somekind of cosmic lawgiver.

There is only one thing a philosopher can be relied upon to do, and that is to contradict other philosophers.

Don’t despair, not even over the fact that you don’t despair.

Dancing is a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire.

The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.

The revelation of thought takes men out of servitude into freedom.

One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.

Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere.

War is evil, but it is often the lesser evil.

Many religious confessions share common values. They teach that we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.

What can I know? What ought I to do? What can I hope?

Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.

The brain is wider than the sky.

The safest course is to do nothing against one’s conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.

What is moral is what you feel good after, and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.

The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.

Plato is my friend; Aristotle is my friend, but my greatest friend is truth.

The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.

Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.